Bad field position led to bad offense

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — Pitt quarterback Tyler Palko and the offense ended Thursday… EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — Pitt quarterback Tyler Palko and the offense ended Thursday night’s loss to Connecticut close to where they were for much of the game.

Inside their own 10-yard line.

Unable to overcome poor field position and a barrage of penalties, Pitt (2-2, 0-1) was shut out for the final 20 minutes in a 29-17 loss to UConn (4-1, 1-1) Thursday night at Rentschler Field. The win was the first-ever Big East victory for the Huskies.

“We had terrible field position all night,” head coach Walt Harris said afterwards. “And then we made it worse by having first and extra,” he said, referring to his team’s eight penalties.

Palko threw for 267 yards and one touchdown in the loss, with the majority of the yards going to sophomore Greg Lee, who had a career-high 129 yards receiving on only two receptions. Palko was pressured throughout the entire game, finding it difficult to make a throw without a Husky in his face.

“He was under distress all night,” Harris said. The pressure forced Palko out of the pocket numerous times, altering his throws downfield.

“They pressured with four down-linemen,” Palko explained after the game.” It’s tough when that happens because you can’t put any more people in the box.”

With the Huskies clinging to a six-point lead late in the fourth quarter, sophomore tailback Cornell Brockington sealed the victory after scampering 11 yards into the end zone, giving UConn an insurmountable 29-17 lead. Brockington rushed for 185 yards on the night to go along with his score.

The score was one of two Husky touchdowns in the second half, the other coming from the arm of quarterback Dan Orlovsky. The senior threw his only touchdown of the game on an eight-yard strike to his favorite target on the night, Keron Henry, who caught seven passes for 86 yards and one touchdown. The drive was kept alive after a roughing-the-passer penalty gave the Huskies a first down, one of many Panther miscues throughout the game.

The problems for Pitt began as early as the second series of the game.

Defensively, the Panthers sidestepped disaster on their first series when Orlovsky threw a pass to a Husky receiver that slipped behind Pitt’s secondary, but the pass grazed off his fingertips and fell to the turf.

On Pitt’s second offensive drive, Connecticut senior cornerback Justin Perkins nearly picked off one of Palko’s passes intended for Greg Lee. Palko short-armed the pass as it fell incomplete in front of Perkins.

It seemed to be only a matter of time before the Huskies would turn the almosts into actual big plays. And with little more than six minutes left in the opening quarter, that turnaround started to take form.

Given another chance at an interception, Perkins would take advantage. With Pitt on its own three-yard line, Perkins stepped in front of a Palko pass and returned it nine yards into the end zone for a UConn touchdown. The interception was the only one of the game for Palko, but gave the home team seven points.

Pitt even needed one of its mistakes to score its only touchdown of the game.

After being flagged for a false start with less than 30 seconds left in the first quarter, both teams began to trot off the field, preparing to switch ends for the next quarter. But an official indicated that the period could not end on the penalty, so Pitt lined up for one more play.

Palko then turned the tables on Perkins.

Once again pinned inside his own 20-yard line, Palko threw a floating pass over Perkins’ head down the right sideline, which was caught by Lee. The sophomore receiver then outran the Husky secondary for a 77-yard score, the longest Panther touchdown of the season, to knot the score at seven.

The teams traded field goals with the Panther kick coming with 19 seconds left in the half. That was all the time UConn needed to set up a successful 49-yard field goal from sophomore kicker Matt Nuzzie, a kick that gave the home team a 13-10 lead going into the locker room.

An inspired goal-line stand in the third quarter by the Panther defense held the Huskies to a field goal. On the ensuing kickoff, a good return and a UConn penalty gave Pitt the ball at the 44-yard line. Palko hit DelSardo twice, including a 32-yard lob that DelSardo caught over his shoulder, on the drive to give Pitt a first and goal at the two-yard line. Palko scored on a run the next play to give Pitt its first lead of the night, 17-16.

After the Orlovsky scoring pass, Palko fumbled the ball inside the UConn 30-yard line. Rentschler Field erupted after a Husky pounced on the ball, halting a promising Panther drive.

The only other time Pitt had a chance at cutting into the lead was a missed 51-yard field goal in the fourth quarter by Josh Cummings, his second miss of the night.

“This is a learning experience,” Palko said. “You can’t look at it as a downer.”

“It’s a hard game to lose,” Harris said. “They made the plays, and, well, we didn’t. When you’re on the road with a nice crowd, you have to make plays.”